The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[Armeniar]

 

 

 

S10 - Ligue 1 (3rd) - European Conference League (Winners) - Coupe de France (Qtr Final) 

Squad - U19 - Out on loan - Transfers

 

Takeover

For years there had been rumors and even a dozen attempts to take over our club. Not immediately ideal because of the associated transfer bans, but mainly not ideal because I was actually quite happy with our chairman. The club was sold halfway through the season for more than 100 million while we only get 11 million extra cash. The new management wanted to buy two - got to admit, very talented - players as a thank you for patience, fortunately I was able to stop this in time. Hopefully the new president will be as loyal and willing as the previous one!

Spoiler

 

Transfers

We said goodbye to Gillet, who entered in season 2 and played over 200 games here. He left for Crotone in Italy for 2 million and 40% on sale. Despite the fact that he played often and also played extremely solid, I thought it was time for him to leave. We have some up-and-coming talents who should be able to be better, he would only hold them back. It remains difficult to make such decisions because a long servant like him brings with him some sentiment. Furthermore, Braun and Moussikanda , among others, were loaned out in the hope that they will come back stronger. They are still one step short for our own first team, up to them to take it.

Ligue 1

Another rock solid season. We also overcame one of our bogey teams, winnign at Lyon field with 2-3. In the ten previous encounters we could never do that (screen). A strong start to the season made us third after 10 matches with 23 points, equal with P$G but 5 points behind Monaco who stopped a run of over 40 unbeaten games of the Parisians. To be honest, it's only these two teams that are currently too strong for us. They are way better than other French teams, which you can see by the amount of points they have. In the end, P$G became champions for the 14th (!) time in a row. However, as "best of the rest" we came out on top after Monaco, an incredibly achievement.

Conference League

PSV Eindhoven was set aside relatively easily, qualifying us for the group stages in Europe for the first time ever. Here we ended up in a group with Sion, Qarabag and Sporting CP. This turned out to be no trouble at all for the boys: we came out of the group phase undefeated (screen), only in Portugal we got stuck at 1-1. Then came Feyenoord. In the first match in De Kuip we made the difference (0-3), despite an early red card of Sabatier. In the quarterfinals, Romania's Botosani were beaten without any struggle. In the semifinals we met an old friend, Sporting CP. It was a little more difficult than in the group stage, at home we did not manage to score and in Portugal Yilmaz got an unlucky red card, but still we managed to win the game. On to the final, where the German Cologne awaited us...

Starting XI:

Spoiler

Result:

Spoiler

Two of our most experienced players, who both joined us in season 2, give us a first European title.  Merci Barbier, merci Bokungu! 

U19

The U19 was inspired by the good performance of the first team. Two years ago they already won their regional competition, which also happened now. This time, however, they also managed to win the national finals, allowing our youth team to officially call themselves champions of France. Gratz, boys!

Spoiler

 

Youth intake

Again the facilities were upgraded (screen), it has been a constant since we have been playing at the highest level. Another constant in the making is the HOYD who retires after just one season (screen). This is the second time our HOYD has retired at a relatively early age. Yannick Menu was the most adequate replacement willing to commit to Sedan. So he will determine what will be on the menu in terms of players in the coming seasons (lame, sorry).

Spoiler

 

The intake was not too great, but we do clearly notice the influence of our partnerships. We see boys coming through from Ghana, Algeria, Norway and Belgium. We have another (yearly) talented goalkeeper, a Ghanaian who is looking for a career in France. Furthermore, Dewitte is quite a talent at left forward. Technically he's ok, but mentally and especially physically he still has to make serious progress.

 

[Padders]

7 minutes ago, JLAB said:

So we found ourselves having another intake with another goalkeeper being considered the best of the bunch. Which is starting to get a little annoying. At least he's pretty tall though.

The goalkeeper in question is Niccolò Ledda, a young Italian goalkeeper who has some good potential on him. The fact he's only 15 and has the ability to play in the 3rd tier already (apparently), is a nice situation to be in. It would be nice if we had other positions getting as much depth as the goalkeeper position is.

A winger who my backroom staff thinks can be a Left Wing-Back, but how we train him remains to be seen. Things could be hit or miss with this guy, but what I do know is that he needs work if he is to get into the first team.

Last player of the bunch, and a player who can be considered a decent attacking midfielder. Is he the absolute best? No, he needs a lot of work, but there is a lot of promise from this guy that I hope we can unlock. 

The season however, is looking very nice indeed. Not anywhere close to the relegation zone and while the title is out of the question, we've got a chance of snatching a decent final league finish at the end of the year. Overall, a successful season.

Think there is something wrong with keepers in the intakes. Must get a class keeper every 4-6 years. Have had 3/4 1st teams keepers in the squad at one time.

[Britrock]

We've totally FM'd this one, the winning goal was on a counter from their corner

[OlivierL]

SC Eendracht Aalst - Youth intake - Season 3 (2023/2024)

Spoiler

 

Best of Class 2024

 

 
De Bock 24-1 has potential to be a first team DC , and good personality. Van Driessche 24-3 is another creative option (i already have a few). Callebaut 24-13 will be promoted to the first team and he could become first team goalkeeper, his unambitious personalty isn't a good thing.

No new nationalities.

The same average as last year but no real outstanding players. Some of them could make it into the squad next season.

Edited February 19, 2021 by OlivierL

[djsterry]

Having a first attempt at this I've gone with Energie Cottbus and I have to say I underestimated how hard this would be.

I've managed to get some decent staff and also to convince the chairman to let me do a few coaching courses but trying to build a team is proving difficult. 

My youth intake was tragic despite it saying it was good and I've lost my best player due to a release clause.

I didn't realise how much different it made starting off as such a bad manager, your players don't respect you at all

Finished 11th first season which wasn't too bad, I can see this being very difficult to gain promotion wish me luck 

[Padders]

8 minutes ago, djsterry said:

Having a first attempt at this I've gone with Energie Cottbus and I have to say I underestimated how hard this would be.

I've managed to get some decent staff and also to convince the chairman to let me do a few coaching courses but trying to build a team is proving difficult. 

My youth intake was tragic despite it saying it was good and I've lost my best player due to a release clause.

I didn't realise how much different it made starting off as such a bad manager, your players don't respect you at all

Finished 11th first season which wasn't too bad, I can see this being very difficult to gain promotion wish me luck 

Oh yeah, its tough, really tough.........................

[djsterry]

22 minutes ago, Padders said:

Oh yeah, its tough, really tough.........................

Yep but tbf it's the most interesting save I've had for years

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2038/9 Folkestone Season Report

Our first season in the Vanarama National, and our last. (Obviously this is tempting fate. I have no idea what will happen next season).

We maintained our 10ish point cushion from half way. The only worry was when we lost a game and then had a couple postponed allowing one of our challengers to creep within one point, but we still had our two games in hand, and won the league fairly comfortably.

On the other hand, the cups were a disaster, going out to lower league teams in both.

In the FA Cup we lost to 10 men. In the FA Trophy (after knocking out our main division rivals) I took some tired players off when we were 3-0 up. The opposition came back to draw and won the replay.

So, now we’ll probably never even be in the FA Trophy.

Obviously promotion is good, but it’s going to bring a lot of problems and challenges with it.

We’re going to have to turn professional, which mean negotiating new contracts with everybody. Our ground doesn’t have nearly enough seats, so I don’t know how long ground improvements will take. Maybe we’ll be playing elsewhere for a while. On top of that there’s probably all kinds of things I haven’t foreseen.

So the next year is going to be very challenging, but obviously I’m looking forward to it.

Top Goalscorer – Jack Collett 13a – 46

Normal top scorer Michael Morgan wasn’t injured or anything. He just didn’t score as many with 41. It was a 2 striker show all season. The gap between these 2 and everyone else is a bit worrying.

 

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Jack Collett 13a – 7.53

Man of The Match – Jack Collett 13a - 16

 

Most Valuable Player– Jack Collett 13a

Is Collett better than Morgan now? Well, according to my coach with the best JCA, yes he is. Morgan did regress a bit at the end of the season, but I think that was just fatigue. However, at the moment I’m coming up against a bug where the board doesn’t even respond to a request that we hire a sport scientist. If that doesn’t change once we become professional, it might border on a challenge ending bug.

 

Most Appearances (Regens) – Jason ‘Nepotism’ Ramsay 1a – 708

Still at the club, and hopefully will get a coaching or manager job somewhere soon, but he didn’t make an appearance this season. I thought this record was safe for a while, but central defender Trymore Sibanda 2b is now on 692.

Trymore, 32 by the end of the season, is still just about our 2^nd best CD. Actually he’s the 4^th best, but 2 of the others play in other positions. Obviously at some point I need to put someone younger in, but given our likely struggle next season, I won’t be rushing it. That 2^nd central defence spot is certainly a major weakness, but we do have a couple of promising youngsters.

Nobody else is anywhere near the top 2 in total appearances.

Most Goals (Regens) – Michael Morgan 9a - 257

Ellis Andrews 2c left on a free transfer during the season, and his 250 mark has now been surpassed.

Morgan is only 24, so as long as he keeps his place, and I don’t see any immediate threats to him, should build on this record considerably.

Collett is 4 years younger and 138 goals behind, so if my save goes the distance, it’s going to be close.

Harsh fact. My entire first team will probably be toast if we continue rising through the divisions, and these records set over 18 years in non-league football will never be beaten. I always thought the first couple of promotions were going to be the most difficult. 

Season	Division		Position	Notes							MVP										
21/22	VNL South		18th		Steered clear of relegaton thanks to good start.	Callum Davies
22/23	VNL South		16th		Only 2 places better, but a lot more points.		Henry Newcombe
23/24	VNL South		18th		Big step backwards in points.				David Smith
24/25	VNL South		15th		Consistently mediocre.					David Smith
25/26	VNL South		14th		Just outside playoffs for most of the season.		David Smith
26/27	VNL South		16th		Otherwise known as the year 1AD (After Discipline)	Ellis Andrews 2c
27/28	VNL South		19th		Narrowly avoided relegation places all season		David Smith
28/29	VNL South		15th		Tried different tactics. Didn't find a magic bean.	David Smith
29/30	VNL South		7th		Lost playoff semifinal, but a great improvement.	Ellis Andrews 2c
30/31	VNL South		12th		Second half slump into mid-table disappointment		David Smith
31/32	VNL South		7th		Lost in S/F of playoff					Ellis Andrews 2c
32/33	VNL South		9th		Didn't threaten playoffs				Ellis Drake 10a
33/34	VNL South		2nd		Lost last 2 matches of season and 1st playoff game.	Michael Morgan 9a
34/35	VNL South		4th		Knocked out Playoffs 1st round on penalties		Michael Morgan 9a
35/36	VNL South		6th		Knocked out in Playoff semifinal			Michael Morgan 9a
36/37	VNL South		5th		Knocked out in Playoff semifinal			Giorgos Kragiopoulos 11a
37/38	VNL South		1st		Won the league by a mile. 17th time lucky.		Michael Morgan 9a 
38/39	VNL National		1st		Back to back comfortable promotions			Jack Collett 13a 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by vikeologist

[DazRTaylor]

My new preview is in and it looks poor.  That said, last year the preview was equally poor yet the intake was very good.  Hoping for more of the same.

[Armeniar]

 

Debut in the Champions League... What is happening? We were handed a pretty tough group with Juve, Sevilla & the wealthy Hertha BSC, but winning our first game gives us hope!

 

Give Bokungu a statue 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Armeniar

[Padders]

Season Review 2107/08

More mid-table mediocrity

Another awful intake

Luca Crepaldi retired 368 league goals in 603 games (728/481 career)

Nothing else to report..................................

 

[Padders]

32 minutes ago, djsterry said:

Yep but tbf it's the most interesting save I've had for years

Don't play FM any other way and haven't done for 5/6 years

[Brentmeister]

@Padders It's a shame Crepaldi retired, could've possibly got a couple of decent seasons out of him as a DLP or Regista where his physical attributes are less important

Edited February 19, 2021 by Brentmeister

[djsterry]

Youth report has just come in

 

I hope there is a rw/rm in there, give my 6ft4 striker a break from playing on the wing

 

[Britrock]

Well, what a total damp squib. Barzola looks like he could be my future RB but there's not really much else. I tagged Ortega as well but I don't hold out much hope for him

[Padders]

51 minutes ago, Brentmeister said:

@Padders It's a shame Crepaldi retired, could've possibly got a couple of decent seasons out of him as a DLP or Regista where his physical attributes are less important

Yeah he's been brilliant for us

[Padders]

Record transfer fee received £141m, this time for Liam Archer. He's not signing a new contract at the moment

 

[AlwaysNalah]

Busy week at work so slowed right down

FK Blansko

Season 9 - 1st year in the Synot Liga

We had a lucky promotion last year with our start striker firing us way above where we should be, and this season was always going to be hard. To put it in to perspective our board signed a 5 year sponsorship in year 5 worth 350k, which ends after season 10, the next lowest in the league is a million more than us and we are losing money every month as a result. Further to this our ground was not up to scratch so we are sharing with FK Slovacko - over 100km away. 

 

We struggled all season, and had a few hammerings, but luckily Vicktoria were god awful with a -70 goal difference and locked up the automatic relegation spot, whilst before we xmas break we pulled off a few results such as an away draw with Sparta. After the break we were not good in an way and were pulled right into the battle. By the time the relegation group came around we were 8 points adrift of safety, but won 4/5. The reason we stay is once again is Ross Bird who finished top scorer in the league, which is just ridiculous for a player from our team, he scored 60% of our goals. 

From the year 8 class we had 2 wingers who were promising and had both been getting games, until one broke his leg and one fractured his skull so will likely never be seen again. On the one big downside of the note our one player who is close to top tier ability Brazilian RB Harrison Cleiton is leaving us this summer after refusing to sign a new contract, I could not sell him last year as really needed him to help the fight to stay up and hoped that another year in the top flight would convince him to stay.

Still Poor Facilities and Youth, not a single uprgrade in 9 years, this really has been a slog with Blansko, and will not get an

y easier for a while, there is just no money in the czech leagues to upgrade anything. We did get our first recruitment upgrade in 5 years, to average and somehow the board have decided to look into buying a new stadium. If after year 10 we can get that little bit more sponsor money and in years 10-12 sneak in the the 6-10th European playoff slot we could take off, but unlikely!

 

Intake was better personality wise than we have had for a few years. Need a new RB and we are sorely lacking in attacking options 

 

 

[OlivierL]

Ancelotti manager from my country, watching a game at the stadium of my favourite club (Antwerp - Bosuil) and watching my best central defender Andreas Burssens  lovely !

 

[OlivierL]

SC Eendracht Aalst - Jupiler Pro League - Season 3 (2023/2024)

Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 |Player Stats| Finances |Transfers| Facilities | Best Eleven

We were the number one relegation candidate but were able to fight until the last day for a top 8 spot (europa playoffs). In the Beker van België we reached the semi-finals and were held back from our first final after a goal in injury time. 

A victory in our final game and a draw of KV mechelen and we finished 8th !

We start with 50% of the points . Winner plays against the number 4 from 'champions play-offs' for an Europe Conference spot.

We started ok but the gap got bigger at the end. 

Key Players

 
Burssens is our best defender and had a solid season. Lentz won the goalkeeper of the year award. I hope i can keep them for many years.

Academy Records

Facilities changes

Would be nice.. this was mentioned in my new contract / club vision.

Manager Thoughts

Another good season and excellent result in our first season at the highest level. A number of youth players are starting to break through and I hope to integrate a few more. All 'real' first team players have signed on for one or more years, so we can continue with the current batch for some time to come. I have totally got the youth only microbe!

I'll promote Been 23-7 , Bannewitz 23-8 and Callebaut 24-13 and maybe some more from below list :

Spoiler

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

HOYD change - Aalst - season 4 

Changed my fairly pro HOYD with 13/14 on jud. PA/CA ,16 working with youth and 13 determination for Model Citizen Hoyd with 14/15 jud. PA/CA , 15 working with youth and 14 determination.

[holidaysong]

FC United of Manchester ; season 2036/37

League Table ; Squad ; Starting 11 ; Transfers ; Youth Candidates

Relegation. Hard to take considering the amount of slim one goal losses. My striker coming in as top league goal scorer adds insult to injury.

Time to regroup in League One. With three of my best players wanting to leave, I have promised them play-offs as a minimum to keep them on board. A few relegation release clauses might come back to bite me though.

[Padders]

5 minutes ago, holidaysong said:

FC United of Manchester ; season 2036/37

League Table ; Squad ; Starting 11 ; Transfers ; Youth Candidates

Relegation. Hard to take considering the amount of slim one goal losses. My striker coming in as top league goal scorer adds insult to injury.

Time to regroup in League One. With three of my best players wanting to leave, I have promised them play-offs as a minimum to keep them on board. A few relegation release clauses might come back to bite me though.

Oh no gutting.

sometimes it does help and allows you to regroup and fine tune your squad 

[XaW]

  

De Treffers - Season 2026/27 Review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So.... this season went much faster than I planned it. But I just really enjoy this side and the Dutch league! So I mostly sat around playing FM the whole day and completed the season. I'm still keeping with the 4-4-2, because, quite frankly, it's fun winning a few games now, rather than losing most. The squad is slowly improving, and I can tell because the players who used to be 5 stars are now 4 or below. So the team is slowly coming along and getting better, and it's nice to see that Joris van Barneveld 25a from the first intake is now rated as the best player in the squad.

The season itself went better than last season, even if we are not part of the best sides in the league yet. After a slow, but not horrible start it picked up going towards Christmas. Then after Newyears we had a rough patch before we had a solid finish towards the end. So we finished in 11th place, our highest position yet. The fun thing about that is that it was enough to put us into the promotion playoffs! All those Jong-teams made sure the playoff spots were passed down the table until we got the final spot.

In the playoffs we beat Excelsior on away goals, then just about edged past Zwolle before we lost to Den Bosch in the final and just about missed a very undeserved promotion. Still a good effort and we almost shocked everyone.

In the TOTO KNVB Beker we beat Excelsior and Den Bosch before losing to Heerenveen in the 3rd round.

There were some more improvement this season, and more coming along nicely.

Another promising preview, seems like we are getting regular "golden generations" now, so it should be better than before.

Oh, the improvements are working! No doubt about it! Lots of great talents here this time!

Rob is a very talented left sided player. First I thought of him as a full back, but I need a left winger, so he might play that role for now.

Mike is a deadly finisher, but his weaknesses are Composure and his speed.

Statistics:

Spoiler

We added in Brazil and Canada, as well as a few more European countries, so a very nice and diverse intake.

[DazRTaylor]

Such a shame Crepaldi retired @Padders  He looks good enough for at least two more seasons.

Edited February 20, 2021 by DazRTaylor

[Padders]

22 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

Such a shame Crepaldi retired @Padders.  He looks good enough for at least two more seasons.

Yeah he was still scoring goals and could have done a job 

[DazRTaylor]

Love playing in the very low level leagues.  Just had a great cup run with Friar Lane & Epworth - only made it to the fourth qualifying round - but the money made has allowed me to upgrade the academy.

[JLAB]

ACN Siena 1904 - 2031/32 Season Review

Our first season in Serie B was much more successful than I ever imagined it would have been. We managed to secure a top 5 finish and after getting 1st place in the Lega Pro Girone B last season, it gives me confidence that we can be really strong if the young players continue to improve. Gianni Cecchetti's departure did weaken us, and perhaps that was the reason why we didn't do as well in the defensive side of things and we leaked as many goals as we did, but make no mistake, this was a very strong season as far as we are concerned. Expected to finish bottom of the league and securing a playoff place for the chance to get promoted to Serie A? A massive overachievement. Whether we can continue that remains to be seen. 

Quite easily, Jack Oliver is our strongest player, he managed to score 21 goals this season and he managed to get 3rd place in the top goalscorer's list at the end of the season. Is there work to be done to help this man improve even more? Absolutely, but given that this man has never failed to score at least 13 goals in a single season, I can see this man becoming our record goalscorer if Mirco Scarpato starting to struggle for goals. He's ridiculous prolific for his age.

A man who is on demand. With his 7 finishing, I didn't see Roberto Brondi as someone who is capable of getting 10+ goals in a season, but not only has he done that, but he has done is twice in the last three seasons now. The fact that he is only 19 now and can play as a striker gives me a lot of hope for the future. This man managed to score 16 goals and get 11 assists, meaning that he's also got 10+ assists in two seasons in a row now as well. For a right winger, those sorts of numbers are invaluable.

Another striker, but one that has finally played to his ability. This man that I've had a lot of hope in over the years now, but only this season finally scored 10+ goals for the first time in his career. He managed to get 8 assists as well, but sadly, that's where the praise for this young talent ends.  He's only had an average rating of 6.89 over the season, so I know that he can do a lot better if he can finally bring his consistency to the level that I know he can.

For all that people say about strikers, if we don't have a good goalkeeper too, then all of the hard work up front will be for nothing. Thankfully for us, we've got the likes of Fabrizio Tortoli in goal getting an average rating of over 7.00 for the last few seasons. Even though he conceded 72 goals in the league this season, he was still very good in goal, his average rating of a 7.06 was proof of that. It's just a shame for him that he's got competition coming up that will want to take his spot in the team in the near future.

[Armeniar]

Farmers league, they said... Is P$G about to miss on their 15th title in a row? 

As for us, we're playing incredibly well. But that's clearly not enough to take the next step forward! 

Edited February 20, 2021 by Armeniar

[djsterry]

Really happy I have managed to pull off an unexpected promotion to bund 2 in my 2nd season in charge

 

A very close 1-0 win over two legs secures the promotion

 

star of the season, came up with some very important goals during the year

 

Most promising prospects so far

 

hopefully a couple of players will emerge from a fairly promising youth group

 

Fully expecting to have a rough ride next season and all them promotion bonuses I added to get people to sign contracts might hurt me 

 

 

[XaW]

I had to sell Joris van Barneveld 25a just now. His contract was up at the end of the season, and we refused to talk about a new one. And when the offers started to pour in, he started to make a fuzz about things. So I let him go for almost a million pounds and 50% of next sale. A really good player, and we will hurt a lot by this loss, but I think it was the right thing to do.

[ravenation]

Gainsborough Trinity

Season 2037/2038. 17th place Championship - FA cup 5th round - Carabeo 1st round

Great season where we ended up changing almost our whole start-11 with the succesful undefeated U18 team from last season. So we have plenty of potential for growing as a club and team.

Youth intake not good - but w emanged to convince the board to invest in new youth facilities, youth recruitment and upgrade our senior facilities and youth level

I hope to keep this team for at least one more season - we will not sell unless offers are high.

Our U18 team was of course effected by the loss of players to senior team - but still finished second.

This season our striker Lindley made 16 goals and our central midfielder 7 - so i have expectations for top-12 finish next season - still many points up to play offs.

I checked in on our former players - only one of them is playing in championship - Tord JAcobsen. Others arent playing and one of them actually just ended up in Nationale league on a free transfer. Horrible to see greedy youngsters ruin their carreeres leaving Gainsbororugh.

[DazRTaylor]

Youth Candidates

Season 2026/27

Friar Lane & Epworth

Another poor preview has proved to be inaccurate again.  Another decent intake.

[Brentmeister]

After flip-flopping between leagues and saves not sticking, and partly inspired by @OlivierL success, I keep getting drawn back to Belgium. So here I am again, for one final effort.

 

Boring stuff

West Ham legend Carlton Cole taking his first steps into management. (sorry sbout calling you a Sunday league footballer big man, thems the rules)

 

Season 1 review

The first season went very well, we finished second behind Club Brugge' B team which is almost a cheat code at this level, they have players rated £5m, where as my best player is rated £10k!

The Play-off group was a bit of a let down but promotion may have come too early anyway.

 

Youth players

We were promised a golden generation, and we got a golden generation. Milan Somers instantly becomes our best player and we got a 15 year old model citizen too!

Milan has an unambitious personality, while not ideal it hopefully means we have a better shot of keeping him for a while.

 

Transfers, finances and misc

Finances aren't great, we already have a pretty good youth setup (most of Belgium does) that costs us 45k a month, so we're probably losing 350k p/a. I managed to snag my first coaching badge. Transfers n/a.

 

Next season goals

More of the same, while intergrating the youth players.

Edited February 20, 2021 by Brentmeister

[Brentmeister]

A question for you youth challenge veterans and experts: If you have a young player who is your best player at 15, do you start them straight away or leave them in the youth leagues for a while to develop? Will his progression stall if I throw him straight in?

[XaW]

Just now, Brentmeister said:

A question for you youth challenge veterans and experts: If you have a young player who is your best player at 15, do you start them straight away or leave them in the youth leagues for a while to develop? Will his progression stall if I throw him straight in?

It depends, but I often chuck them straight into the first team. However, if they show signs of being jaded, I'll leave them out for a month or so.

[XaW]

The poaching continues!

[ravenation]

40 minutes ago, Brentmeister said:

A question for you youth challenge veterans and experts: If you have a young player who is your best player at 15, do you start them straight away or leave them in the youth leagues for a while to develop? Will his progression stall if I throw him straight in?

I did it in previous versions - but it is my impression you need be more careful in this version. I usually wait till they are at least 17 now.

[OlivierL]

1 hour ago, Brentmeister said:

After flip-flopping between leagues and saves not sticking, and partly inspired by @OlivierL success, I keep getting drawn back to Belgium. So here I am again, for one final effort.

 

Boring stuff

West Ham legend Carlton Cole taking his first steps into management. (sorry sbout calling you a Sunday league footballer big man, thems the rules)

 

Season 1 review

The first season went very well, we finished second behind Club Brugge' B team which is almost a cheat code at this level, they have players rated £5m, where as my best player is rated £10k!

The Play-off group was a bit of a let down but promotion may have come too early anyway.

 

Youth players

We were promised a golden generation, and we got a golden generation. Milan Somers instantly becomes our best player and we got a 15 year old model citizen too!

Milan has an unambitious personality, while not ideal it hopefully means we have a better shot of keeping him for a while.

 

Transfers, finances and misc

Finances aren't great, we already have a pretty good youth setup (most of Belgium does) that costs us 45k a month, so we're probably losing 350k p/a. I managed to snag my first coaching badge. Transfers n/a.

 

Next season goals

More of the same, while intergrating the youth players.

Good luck ! that Milan Somers looks very good. His personality isn't good but his determination is great . And u got a guy from Norway , great !  

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by OlivierL

[djsterry]

43 minutes ago, XaW said:

The poaching continues!

snap

[Brentmeister]

5 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

Good luck ! that Milan Somers looks great.

 

 

He does! I'm quite excited about him.

[TheGreatTraveler]

 

Considering I have a 50% of profit clause and I sold him for 250k.... PLEASE SELL PLEASE PLEASE SPORTING COME ON

[TheGreatTraveler]

YESSSSS! No Finance woes for the next few years I think 

[JLAB]

3 minutes ago, TheGreatTraveler said:

YESSSSS! No Finance woes for the next few years I think 

Congrats on your young talent getting so good that Atletico Madrid wanted to buy him.

[OlivierL]

With a balance below one milj. this is good money  he was a good coach but replaceable .

[DazRTaylor]

2 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

A question for you youth challenge veterans and experts: If you have a young player who is your best player at 15, do you start them straight away or leave them in the youth leagues for a while to develop? Will his progression stall if I throw him straight in?

Chuck them in. When you get a message saying they are jaded and need a rest I send them on holiday. 

[JLAB]

Oh... that's not good to be getting heading into December...

[aldojags]

@Paddershow does Crepaldi career stats compare with Bateson? Crepaldi spent most his career in Prem but Bateson played a lot in Championship?

[Brentmeister]

 

2 hours ago, OlivierL said:

Good luck ! that Milan Somers looks very good. His personality isn't good but his determination is great . And u got a guy from Norway , great !  

 

He looks promising too!

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by Brentmeister

[vikeologist]

4 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

A question for you youth challenge veterans and experts: If you have a young player who is your best player at 15, do you start them straight away or leave them in the youth leagues for a while to develop? Will his progression stall if I throw him straight in?

I think the success of throwing them in instantly depends on their personality, especially pressure.

What I will say is that I had a promising regen with unflappable media handling, (ie high pressure) and he didn't improve without first team football, but there are a lot of factors (low determination for one in his case). 

In case that's not clear, I'm suggesting that players with high pressure actually need pressure / 1st team footie. No idea if that's true

As others have said, I think you need to put them in (if you can) and see what happens with their progress and reports that they can't handle first team action.

Edited February 20, 2021 by vikeologist